Johnson rues a season of near misses

Glen Johnson believes Liverpool’s season could have been very different if it weren’t for the Reds hitting the woodwork so often.

Liverpool endured a frustrating league campaign, with Kenny Dalglish’s men finishing the season in eighth place behind rivals Everton and well off the race for a Champions League spot.

The Reds hit the woodwork an astonishing 33 times this term – the highest figure in the Premier League – and Johnson believes that their bad luck in front of goal has been costly.

“I don’t remember any team in the history of football hitting the woodwork as often as we have this season,” he told LFC magazine. “But they are the fine lines people talk about.

“What width is a post? Probably three or four inches. If the ball goes two inches more in one direction it’s probably hitting the woodwork and going in.

"With all of the shots that hit the woodwork we could have had 15 more points this season. That would have put us right up there towards the top four. But that’s football and we can’t change it now.”

Liverpool were equally as wasteful from the penalty spot, missing seven of the 11 penalties that were awarded to them this season, although they made amends for their prolificacy from 12-yards out by beating Cardiff City in a penalty shoot-out to secure the the Carling Cup in February.

The England international, who scored from the spot against Cardiff, revealed that he was briefly Liverpool’s first-choice penalty taker, and admitted he couldn't put his finger on why Liverpool had been so wasteful this season.

“When we played Blackburn away a few weeks ago I was on the penalties,” he said. “I’d be happy to take them. In the Chelsea game at Anfield I was joking with the lads and telling them that I was taking one if we got it.

“I don’t know why we’ve missed so many this season. Normally, if someone misses a new person has a go and then they go on a run of scoring.

"But it seems that whenever we’ve got a new taker he’s then missed. Then someone else has a go. Penalties are a part of the game where anything can happen.

"Even the best players in the world miss them. It’s not easy to explain.”

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